sometimes about the places we see or where we go, sometimes about our history ....

Jul 22, 2014

Leonard Peterson - KIA 25th November 1915

Ok young Lennie, tell me why you did it?

Lennie Peterson joined the AIF in January 1915 and promptly changed his name to Peter Palmer.

Why?

He was born in Cheltenham, he was 25 years of age and his parents were Swedish, so cannot see why he would have any reason to change his name.

But he did.

Lets go back aways, back to his parents so you have some background on young Lennie.

Frederick Adolph Peterson was born in February 1854 in a small village called Turinge, in Sodermanland, Sweden, SW of Stockholm as seen in the image below.

In October 1875 he sailed into Melbourne on board the 44 ton schooner the "Black Hawk" after departing New York some two months earlier.

By the time he was 31 years old, he had met and married 20 year old Emma Butler. Adolph and Emma went on to have eleven children, with six of them dying before they had reached the age of 10.

One of the eleven children was named Leonard Peterson.

Leonard was born in November 1889 at home in Cheltenham. By the time he was 24 years old, The Great War had commenced and it did not take him long to "sign up" for the AIF.

Lennie enlisted in Melbourne on 29th January 1915 under the name of PETER PALMER with a service number of 722. He was allocated to the 21st Battalion / 6th Brigade. He listed his mother - Mrs E. Peterson - as his 'next of kin'.

a selection of the AIF papers belonging to Peter Palmer.

The 21st Battalion was raised, as part of the 6th Brigade, at
Broadmeadows in Victoria in February 1915. Its recruits hailed from all
over the state. The later enlistment of these men, and their average age
of 29, would seem to indicate a more considered decision to enlist that
set them apart from those who did so amidst the heady enthusiasm of
late 1914.

Lennie, or Peter as he was known, did his training at Broadmeadows camp for the next three months and on 8th May 1915 the Battalion left Broadmeadows camp at
11am and proceeded by train to Melbourne. The Battalion boarded the HMAT
Ulysses (15,000 tons) at 4.30pm and sailed at 8pm on the same day.

Embarkation
was quietly carried out. There was no fanfare of trumpets, and that
night they slipped from the pier down the bay in company with the
"Euripides" which carried the 23rd and 24th Battalions.

image above right is of the HMAT Ulysses in port at Port Melbourne, left image is 'at sea'.

"On arrival at Alexandria, at 2 pm on 8th June, most of the troops took
French leave for the evening. Next day we entrained for Helmieh Siding,
thence we marched to the Aerodrome Camp, Heliopolis, which was our home
for the next three months".

From 12th to 23rd August "C" Company garrisoned the Cairo Citadel, the
other three companies, Kasr-el-Nil and Bab-el-Hadid Barracks in the city
it self. They were the first Australian troops to act as garrison in
Cairo.

By the 29th August they had returned to Heliopis & absorbed the 1st & 2nd reinforcements,
which brought them to full strength, on 29th Aug entrained at Helmieh
Siding, fully trained Aust.unit ready to take their place beside the 1st
Div. which had already made its name on Gallipoli.

The following day - 30th August - they embarked at Alexandria on board the "Southland", but two days later they were very much taken by surprise when the transport was torpedoed off the Island of Stratae, near Mudros Bay at 9.50am.

above image: on right is the transport ship 'SOUTHLAND' which was torpedoed whileconveying Australian & New Zealand Troops to Gallipoli.on left is the 21st Bn after the torpedo attack.

The "Southland" then, under her own power was beached in Mudrus Harbour
about 7 pm. All the small boats were picked up by 3.30 pm and the
Battalion was reorganised and refitted on board the "Transylvania" at
Mudros. We transshipped to the transport "Abassieh" on the evening of 6th
September and were landed at ANZAC Cove before midnight. Next day we
took over the line which was to be our home for three and a half months.

various images of ANZAC COVE in 1915

Between 24 & 27 November, the troops at Anzac Cove were ordered not to fire on
the Turks unless they were attacked or threatened. This so-called
‘Silent Stunt’ was to help deceive the enemy into thinking that a
silence did not necessarily mean withdrawal.

On 25th November
1915, Leonard Peterson was killed in action at Gallipoli and is buried
at Shrapnel Valley Cemetery. Just 10 months after he enlisted in the
Australian Army.

Roll of Honour name projection - July 2014

Leonard Peterson's name will be projected onto the exterior of the Hall of Memory at the AWM in Canberra on:

Sun 14 September, 2014 at 4:00 am

Mon 3 November, 2014 at 3:01 am

Sat 27 December, 2014 at 9:05 pm

Thu 19 February, 2015 at 5:29 am

Thu 9 April, 2015 at 6:11 am

Thu 21 May, 2015 at 3:56 am

Sun 28 June, 2015 at 11:32 pm

Thu 6 August, 2015 at 3:39 am

These dates and times are estimates. The
actual time of projection could change as a result of weather and other
factors, so it is advisable to check closer to the date. In the rare
event of a temporary loss of electrical power, the names scheduled for
display in that period will not appear until the next time listed.